In the beginning Portugal affected many people mostly in the Atlantic world, their culture, everyday life, religion, colonization or empire, and their effect on the Atlantic World. The people of Portugal were very powerful; they conquered Brazil and found many riches across the Atlantic world. These people were mostly humble people but turned greedy with the thought of gold and the unknown riches of America and Brazil. They took many slaves from African and they also took many Native Americans from being free in America to being forced at gunpoint to become slaves forever. The Portuguese were many things but not willing, they took whatever chance they could to find their own power, but later Brazil became and independent nation and overtook the power of Portugal. Portugal had a great effect on the Atlantic world and the founding of America. Their lifestyle, culture, religion, daily life helped make the Atlantic world powerful and strong.

Slave trade, colonization of Brazil, and the unknown riches of America mad Portugal a very powerful nation. The Portuguese were the first to find Brazil and when they did they found some Indians or Native Americans that were very accommodating but the Portuguese took them for granted and forced them to become Portuguese slaves. These “Indians” were called Indians because they are the Native Americans of Brazil so they called them Indians. But after the Native Americans the Portuguese got a larger crew and searched Brazil for the riches they had been searching for on their original voyage trying to get to America. They found nothing until they made the slaves search for precious metals that they later found after a lot of hard work. There were also many South African slaves were brought to Brazil to work on the Brazil trees that had a surplus of in the country of Brazil (that is how Brazil got its name). This is very important to Portuguese history because this is what made them so powerful in the Atlantic world and it is also what made them so rich.

The Portuguese’ everyday life and culture helped them survive in the ocean and in uncharted lands. The Portuguese had many slaves help them do all of their work but on sea the only thing they would do is clean and lift heavy weights. The Portuguese had to be of higher power like the captain. The Portuguese always had a surplus of food and never went hungry. However, for the slaves which would sometimes die of hunger. The Portuguese would never die on voyages and would thrive on their trips to uncharted waters that are yet to be discovered. This was very important because it helped Portugal thrive and survive on land or sea.

The religion of the Portuguese helped found the Religion of Americans because they have the same religion. The Portuguese’ religion is Roman Catholic so it was very important to the founding of America because we wouldn’t have the same religion we have today. This may not be the only religion in America but it is probably the most important one. The Location of Portugal are very convenient because it is easy to go from one place in the Atlantic World to the next; like if you wanted to go to Africa it would be easy because Portugal is open to that whole area of the world. Many of the European countries were allies with Portugal which was important so that they can carry on with their exploration. This helped them thrive in the Atlantic World most of all.

Portugal was a powerful nation and they survived well in the Atlantic world; they effected many people in good and bad ways and helped the founding of America. Portugal was very important to many of the countries and continents in the Atlantic world and this helped them become very rich. But this was not the only thing that made them rich, they found many precious metals that also made them powerful. The Portuguese traveled many places like Africa, India, South America, Central America, and North America. They traded many things that would help them survive or that were valued in many other countries. Portugal had a big effect in the Atlantic world and with slave trade, colonization, and the founding of America and that wouldn’t have been possible if the were not there to support the foundation of this world.Zoe Nelson History 10/3/11

Did you know that the Portuguese owned a lot of what is now Brazil during the Atlantic world time period? During the Atlantic world time period the Portuguese colonized in Africa, and South America. They traded with Asia, Africa, and South America. The Portuguese played an important role in the Atlantic World.The Portuguese left their Country in hopes of finding new land and wealth. Before they left they had heard rumors about the land that awaited them. For example there were rumors that the native peoples of Africa were cannibals and savages. They had two main ships to complete their conquest to the African and Asian trading routes. The ships names were: the Carrack and the Caravel both of these ships had Muslim Captains. The Muslims were good at using compasses and other tools for discovering new land. They planned to go around Africa by the south border, then up into the Arabian Peninsula, and around India. The Portuguese had many successes in the Atlantic World. During the 1600’s Portugal gained new military technology. For example gun powder from china. Guns were the newest invention and the greatest invention of that time period. However guns were not that easy to use they required lots of training and took a long time to reload. They also gained new tactics like using more men per battle. This way the battles were longer and sometimes did not have a decided winner. Because of the new military tactics and gun powder from China they were able to win more battles. Because of this, during the time period the Portuguese claimed the most active sea routes in the Indian Ocean. Their names were, Sofala, Kilwa, Goa, Calicut, Macao. Owning these major trading spots was a great military success. Later when Portuguese colonized in Brazi, Brazil’s main natural resource was Brazil wood this was a good thing because, the Portuguese could now trade wood with places like Asia. Slavery was a big part of the Portuguese lives. The Portuguese had slaves in both Brazil and Portugal. In 1550 the population of Lisbon (the capital of Portugal) was reported to have 100,000 people in it. Of these 100,000 people 10,000 of them were slaves. The slaves were all Africans. Before slave trade became popular Africa’s main resource or trading good was sugar cane. Later Slaves became more needed when people started colonizing in the new world. When people got to the new world, they immediately started growing cash crops like corn. After they realized that tending to fields was hard work and that they did not have enough men they enslaved the native Brazilians. (Brazilians were forced at gun point to become slaves.) However since the native Brazilians were not immune to some diseases like small pox they rapidly started dying out, and getting sick. Because of this the Europeans who had colonized into the new world turned to African slaves. Because of this African slave trade skyrocketed. Slaves were had to tend to fields and did other duties for officers. As far as we know the slaves were not treated well. Because the Portuguese controlled so much of what is now Brazil. The Portuguese influence Brazil a lot. One example is that Brazilians speak Portuguese. This shows that they influenced them greatly.